


Kilimba

by Holtzmann1998



Series: Being Kates Girlfriend [33]
Category: Kate McKinnon-Fandom
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-05
Updated: 2017-11-05
Packaged: 2019-01-29 17:41:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,145
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12635982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Holtzmann1998/pseuds/Holtzmann1998
Summary: You bring home a new instrument and Kate isn't too keen about it after some of the other instruments you've brought home.





	Kilimba

“Kate, I got something cool!” You call as you open the door with a blue velvet case in your hands a little smaller than a cigar box. Kate got off work before you and was either somewhere in the apartment, or getting into trouble with Leslie.  
“It better not be another instrument!” Kate calls from the bedroom. “You always spend a small fortune on some junk instrument, play it for two weeks, and throw it in the drawer of forgotten instruments. I think your three ocarinas are under the bed.” You roll your eyes as she lectures you. You smile slightly as you hold the box to your chest and walk to the bedroom. You open the door to find Kate pulling her favorite pair of sweatpants on. She turns around and looks at you and smirks. “A little privacy, please.” She says as you realize she’s not wearing a shirt, only a black brassiere.  
“Ain’t nothing I haven’t seen before.” You wink coolly. You lean against the open door and it moves against your weight, sending you the floor and the door to the wall. The box falls a foot away from you. Kate stifles a laugh as she picks up the box as you pick up your pride.  
“What is it you bought?” Kate says as she opens the box. Her face falls. “Oh god no. What is it and how much did it cost you?” She sighs as she closes the box. You take your bruised pride as sit on the bed.  
“It’s a kalimba. It’s a thumb piano that originates from Africa and-“  
“How much did it cost?” Kate asks you.  
“Fifty dollars.” You shrug as you take the box from her. You open it to reveal a hallow wooden box with a hole in the middle of the front panel and seventeen thin, metal rods held to the machine through metal strips and a wooden stand towards to top. The box smells slightly of cedar. It reminds you of the cigars your dad used to smoke. You take the instrument in your hands. It’s a perfect fit and you adore the cool and smooth feel of the wood and the way it seems to fit in your hands perfectly, like you were born to play the instrument.  
“That’s expensive for an instrument. Your ocarina’s cost you twenty bucks for all three and they sound horrible.” Kate remarks.  
“As a musician of multiple instruments, I’ve learned that you buy a crappy, cheap instrument and decide if you like it before you buy a quality, expensive one.” You retort. You turn your attention to the instrument and run your thumbs across two of the metal rods. As your thumb leaves the instrument, it resonates high pitched noises.  
“It sounds better than the ocarinas.” Kate shrugs as she pulls on a black tank top. She sits on the bed next to you as you hit a few more notes on the instrument.  
“It’s kind of like the piano and the glockenspiel combined. I think it’ll be somewhat easy to learn.” You shrug.  
“You said that about the guitar.” You hear a knock at the door. “Play with your new toy after supper, I ordered us pizza.” Kate smiles as she kisses your cheek before leaving to pay for supper. You place the instrument in its case and carry it out of the bedroom with you. Kate sets the pizza on the coffee table in the living room. You sit on the couch as she goes into the kitchen and brings out two plastic cups, two paper plates, and a large bottle of soda.  
“I forgot to ask,” You say to Kate as she sits down next to you with the TV remote in hand, “how was work?”  
“It was its usual thing.” She shrugs as she turns on the TV.  
“Nothing fun happened? Nothing at all?” You ask. She smiles a little.  
“Leslie and I might have superglued a shoe to the wall in Collin’s office.” She laughs a little, her blue eyes shining with love as she looks at you. Even without makeup, she’s the most beautiful woman on the planet.  
“Why on earth would you do that?” You smile.  
“Because we were bored.” Kate shrugs. She takes a piece of pizza out of the box and continues to flip through channels, finding nothing worth of interest. You take a piece of pizza and begin to eat it. You lie on the couch with your feet on Kate’s lap. The two of you watch the evening news. There’s nothing new, just the usual robbery and depressing and scary stories that make you question what the world will be like a few years down the road. After the news ends and the fourths of the pizza are gone, Kate gets up the puts the box in the fridge and goes to the bathroom. You take your new and beloved kalimba out of its case and hold it. You can’t get over how amazing and beautiful the finish on it looks. You take your phone out of your pocket and look up how to play Under the Sea. One of your coworker’s was humming it today at work and it’s been stuck in your head since. You begin to play it slowly on the kalimba, noticing how cold the metal rods feel on your fingers and trying to correct your mistakes.  
“We’re going to be humming that for weeks.” Kate laughs as she walks back into the living room with a blanket from your bed in her arms. She turns off the TV, lays on the couch with her head on your chest, and wraps the two of you in the plush, blue fabric of the blanket. “Play it again, Sam.” She smiles.  
“That’s actually a misquotation from Casablanca, Blaine never actually-“ Kate places her finger over your lips.  
“Just play the song again.” She whispers with a laugh. A small smile forms on your face. You begin to play it again, making less mistakes. Kate hums along as you play. You play it a third time and she begins to sing.  
“The seaweed is always greener in somebody else's lake. You dream about going up there,” Kate raises her hands above the blanket, “but that is a big mistake. “Just look at the world around you, right here on the ocean floor,” She brings her hands onto the blue blanket, “Such wonderful things surround you what more is you lookin' for?” You stop playing and she gives you a happy smile.  
“I’m not looking for anything but you.” You smile.  
“Oh my god, you’re such a dork.” She grins.  
“But I’m your dork.” You wink. “Come on, admit the kalimba is cool.” You tease.  
“Just play it again.”  
“Admit it.”  
“Fine, it’s not bad. Now play me a song, kalimba woman.” She winks.


End file.
